Not a real shocker here since Toronto FC got spanked on the final day of the season when they needed a win to reach the post season. Toronto FC announced today that interim head coach Chris Cummins will not be returning for the upcoming 2010 MLS season. Effective immediately, the search begins for a new head coach.

“We have decided to move forward without Chris for next season,” said manager, director of soccer Mo Johnston. “We want to thank Chris for his contribution to the club over the last year and a half, and wish him all the best in the future. For us, the work now begins on finding a new coach, and getting him in here before pre-season starts February 1st.”

Again, it doesn’t come to much of a surprise to most folks. Toronto needs to find some stability though moving forward and Cummins just wasn’t the right guy for the job. I would imagine that fans will expect a big hire for this position as no one has been able to get things going in the right direction with this club after three years in the league. I would say that this season was a decent step in the right direction but getting to the playoffs was certainly a must for this bunch and it didn’t happen.

Could Preki be on the move after this season? (Getty Images)

I must say today has been full of good stuff. From MLS playoff scenarios to U-17 World Cup rosters to other items it has been a full day. Needless to say if you have missed some of these items you are in luck as I have saved some of the best links of the day to discuss here tonight.

First up I wanted to get into an excellent post from SBI about some potential coaches out there that are for hire around Major League Soccer. This all stems from the news that long-time New England assistant Paul Mariner would be leaving the Revs to coach at his old club Plymouth.

Without Mariner in the field the list of potential coaches is indeed a little thinner. But Ives brings up some points that I have been touching on for weeks in my coaching hot seat. One being that look for both Preki and Denis Hamlett to not be where they are currently at right now in 2010. I’ve been saying for weeks now that Preki is perfect for the make-over at Kansas City (his old club) and I believe Hamlett would be a good fit in somewhere like Chivas or even San Jose if they were to drop Frank Yallop (doubtful).

A few other names out there are interesting like Robin Fraser, a RSL assistant. Most of you know I’ve been saying Jason Kreis will not be with RSL next year, well Fraser may just be the right replacement as most in the MLS circles believe he is due for a job in the very near future.

There’s probably going to be at least three or four jobs open this winter. Some people don’t like that their club may be involved in this but its just part of the game.

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It’s been a fairly busy day around these parts. From catching up to things, to getting back to the daily grind at my normal job, and to getting back to work on things with this site. I wanted to kick off with a couple items that a few of your have emailed me and commented on recently here. Its mostly end of year items and seeing how we are towards the end of the season it is fitting to revisit some of these things.

First up, the coaching hot seat update.

Basically nothing has changed in my mind since my last update. I do think that Chris Cummins stands the best chance to keep his job if his club reaches the playoffs. Without a playoff trip he will easily join Tom Soehn and Jason Kreis in the pink slip line.

My big question is however if Tom Soehn does get fired by DC United this off season, how long will it take them to get former United star Richie Williams as their new coach? Believe me that would be a great hire for them and for Williams. I know he is currently the interim manager at New York right now but we all know they are looking for a bigger name to help open that new stadium next year.

I really do believe the likely candidates for firing are Soehn and Kreis here. Both had clubs with very high expectations this year and each have under delivered on those expectations. Soehn did have a rough schedule with a load of extra games but that won’t be good enough in DC. As for Kreis I think it comes down to management seeing if he has taken this club as far as he can, which the answer is yes. I just don’t see RSL going any further than a below average club each year under Kreis.

Also, don’t sleep on someone like Denis Hamlett getting canned at the end of this year as well. His Fire have massively under produced this year based on the very high expectations placed on them. I know they are close to clinching but they haven’t exactly lit the league up this year like most thought.

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I don’t have too much going into tonight’s Evening Links and Thoughts. I mainly wanted to touch base with the current coaching hot seat situation in Major League Soccer. I don’t expect any coaching changes to take place until at least after the regular season finishes here. Something crazy would have to take place for any of these teams below to even think about making a switch with so few games left.

I’ve gone back and forth on a couple coaches, which is why they may appear on the fringe of this list. But for the most part the top guys on this list are there for a reason and have a lot of work to do to get out of the hot seat.

Two clubs will are searching for a coach as we speak right now. Both New York and Kansas City have interim coaches and are probably keeping a very close eye on what’s going on around the league right now.

With that said here is what should be the final WVH Coaching Hot Seat of the year. The order is really just a list, I think each are just as much under fire as the next here.

Chris Cummins (Toronto FC): The only thing that may save this guy is a trip to the playoffs. With a workable schedule it is possible but any stumbles on the way only put more fuel on this man’s fire. This club has the talent but under Cummins they really haven’t progressed any more than they did under John Carver.

Tom Soehn (DC United): Again playoffs will save this guy but I still kind of wonder if that will even be enough at times. It could be safe to say that he will need to guide his team to the conference finals to really be safe from a pink slip here. This club has so much talent yet lacks any consistency to get solid results game after game.

Frank Yallop (San Jose Earthquakes): Yallop nearly fell in the fringe category for me but at the end of the day I just don’t know if this is working out in San Jose. It could also have something to do with the partnership with John Doyle in picking out talent that isn’t working out there. I don’t see a change coming this winter unless this club really bottoms out to finish the season. Look for his butt to remain hot going into next year. Year three is going to decide a lot in San Jose.

Jason Kreis (Real Salt Lake): Another guy that needs a playoff run to save his job. I still wish he would have become FC Dallas’ coach instead of RSL’s a couple years ago but it is what it is down here in Dallas. But back to Kreis and his job. Playoffs will certainly be enough to keep him around for another year but anything less and I have to believe he will be out of the door by the end of the calendar year.

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Jeff Agoos and Juan Carlos Osorio have messed up a lot of player picks, thankfully rookie Jermey Hall isn't going to be one of them.

Red Bull fans can celebrate something, the two men responsible for this terrible season will not return in 2010 according to Stefon Bondy of The Bergen Record (NJ). Juan Carlos Osorio and Jeff Agoos will not return with the club next year.

“They know it’s important to make this move, but they know the problem isn’t just about one or two people,” a source told the Record. “With the new stadium opening, the team is approaching one of the most critical points in its history.”

From the sound of things nothing will happen until after this season finishes. It is still weird that the owners would let this terrible season ride out with Agoos and Osorio still kind of weird. Instead of letting assistant coach Richie Williams take over for the remaining part of the season would make sense but nothing has made sense in New York this season.

Who the club will go after in the off season will definitely be a story to follow. Let’s hope for Red Bull fans sake they go after someone who can actually coach and scout in this league.

Somehow this man still has a job. (Getty Images)

In light of Kansas City dismissing manager Curt Onalfo yesterday evening, I figured it was high time I updated my coaching hot seat look once again. Funny thing was yesterday I was already set to work on this and got caught up in something else, by the time I went back into it last night the news came down about Onalfo.

And yes, if you are wondering he was going to be on the list.

But looking at the rest of the sack race here I figure it is easier to break things up into a couple different groups. See we all figure coaches with clubs near the bottom of the table need sacked but in the case of a couple teams, that just won’t happen, at least not this season. In other cases there are a couple coaches that should feel some heat based on how their clubs are doing and based on pre-season expectations placed on them. Lastly, there is a group that just needs to go and saying that it really could be just a matter of time.

As always if you think I am missing on any coach below or think I need to add another to a certain group, feel free to post below. Continue Reading…

KC will no longer be lead by Curt Onalfo. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Turns out losing 6-0 can get you fired, but I’m sure that wasn’t the only reason. According to a couple KC blogs (DTB and Back Post), Kansas City has fired head coach Curt Onalfo. Along with Onalfo, assistant coach, Kris Kelderman was also let go leaving Kerry Zavagnin and John Pascarella as the two remaining coaches.

This move really doesn’t shock me in the least bit. For the last season and a half I’ve thought Onalfo was a decent coach but his clubs continues to be right at average or below it. I know I got a lot of flack over putting him on the hot seat these last couple of years but when you aren’t really improving a club something has to be said about it.

Onalfo held a 27-29-22 record in MLS play after taking over prior to the 2007 season. That just doesn’t cut it folks. Their few wins this year have come against New York, San Jose, RSL, Seattle and New England. The Seattle and RSL road wins were good but aside from that they didn’t have much to go on this season.

I think it is a positive step for OnGoal (KC’s owners) to step up and make a change here because after a couple months of not winning something had to be done.

Kansas City was expected to be one of the clubs on their way up this season but clearly things are just a bit below average once again there.

An official announcement should come tomorrow from the club.